


A Past Set in Stone

by Quartzitedecadence



Category: Nier Gestalt | Nier
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Past, Spoilers, fun fun times, kids that deserved better
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-24 05:45:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13804689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quartzitedecadence/pseuds/Quartzitedecadence
Summary: "We used to be humans. Normal humans. Just a bunch of regular human kids like you'd see anywhere."A pair of twins who care much about each other for years. For years. They continue to grow together as they wager the weight of becoming older.And wiser.





	1. A World of Words

The young girl let out a small yelp when something lightly brushed against her shoulder. 

 

“Oh! I’m sorry, Sister…” A voice behind her said. It was soft and sounded  _ absolutely _ apologetic. How long was she reading this book to be concentrated on it like it was the only thing in the world?

 

She shook her head with a light smile gracing her rather pale features. Her eyes locked on her brother’s, “You’re fine, Emil.” She closed the book then proceeded to stand. “Did you need something?”

 

The younger one bit his lip, “Well, I was just wondering what book you were reading this time, I didn’t mean to bother you.” Emil fiddled with his fingers, his gaze fixated on the carpeted floor. 

 

The sister held up the book to show the cover. “It’s called ‘The Little Prince’, I haven’t gone too far into it yet.” 

 

His gaze floated to the book, examining every nook and cranny. The book had been in the house for a while and she was curious about it. Apparently, their parents had the book for a long while, considering the pages have yellowed and it had this particular smell that almost all old books had. The most prominent part of this book was the cover. A child on a purple planet with stars in the background.

 

In only a few seconds, her brother’s eyes gleamed. She would never trade anything for her brother’s eyes shining in wonder.

 

“Ant- tony da Saint-Esuperry?” After that attempt, he tried a couple more times, but each endeavor led him to exaggerated mouth shapes that even his own sister couldn’t help but laugh at his antics. He pouted.

 

“It’s Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,” The words were as smooth as butter. She went slowly to make sure Emil was able to enunciate all the syllables, then she made him repeat it once again.

 

The boy struggled at first, but his sister kept urging him on to parrot her. On the third try, he was able to hit it perfectly, thus causing a grin to appear on his face identical to hers but not as big. “You’re such a great big sister, Halua.”

 

If Halua wasn’t joyous enough, then she didn’t know what else. Between the two of them, Emil was more childish, more excitable, but they were both of the same age. Yet nothing would warm her heart like Emil. He was her only brother. Her only twin. They were technically two sides of the same coin.

 

Though, even if she was only older than Emil by a mere amount of minutes, she was proud of him. That was enough to please her.

 

“Hey, why don’t we read this book together?” Halua said, taking a seat on the light blue plush sofa. She gestured for her brother to seat right next to her.

 

Emil looked shocked for a moment, “Really?”

 

“Yes,  _ really _ ,” 

 

And there was no hesitation from her brother to huddle next to her with the book. He was a comforting presence to Halua, they have never been truly apart, so together they shall read.

 

“As I said before, I only read a little bit, so we could start from the beginning,” The girl opened the book, placing it between their laps. Emil nodded while taking a side of the book to hold open as she did the same on her side.

 

“What is it about?” He said.

 

Halua placed her free hand under her chin, “A pilot crashes into a desert without any supplies, but meets a boy there who asks him to draw him a sheep. The boy turned out to be a prince from another planet! And uh… I still need to read further.”

 

“Oh, okay! Then we’ll just have to do it right now, right?” Emil said, turning the pages to where the story starts. 

 

“Yeah,” Halua scanned through the words before reciting the first ones that were in her vision.

 

They took turns reading. Halua’s voice was clear and certain; she breezed through the words like it was no problem. Though there were some words she couldn’t understand and had some difficulty pronouncing, Emil waited when she couldn’t pronounce, he never laughed or sneered but tried to help when he can. Emil’s voice was gentle and slow. The words that left his mouth weren’t hard to comprehend, but he struggled half of the time he read. Halua would be there to quickly correct him and the story would continue on.

 

Soon the two were transported to a world that was their own. Their words weaving the tale of the pilot meeting a young prince in the vast desert of the Sahara. Asteroid 325 came to view with prince cleaning the volcanoes and weeding out unwanted plants. A mysterious rose sprouted from the planet’s soil that the prince adored, so he worked for the rose but ultimately decided to leave to explore the universe because of a rose’s actions. Although the two reconciled, the rose encouraged him to explore. 

 

And so he did.

 

Emil stopped reading to face the other, “Sister, do you think we could ever see the planets out there?”

 

“We  _ do _ have a telescope.” Halua said, “I can ask Father if he could set it up.” 

 

“No, I mean- like the prince! We could walk on planets and see the flowers and trees and volcanoes or maybe that one mysterious rose. We could bring some home to Mother and Father too! Wouldn’t that be fun?” The brother said. His tone almost in a dreamlike state while his eyes stared fascinated at the book before him.

 

Halua was aware that there were astronauts who needed special gear to get into space, yet she didn’t want to shatter Emil’s fantasy of going to see the worlds. “Maybe someday, we could see the worlds of blues and pinks and purples and grays. Bring gifts home. But let’s look at the planets with telescope first to… to see which planet to start with.”

 

Emil hummed in agreement. “I really wanna see a planet with purple soil! Oh, and to meet the creatures that live there too.”

 

“We will, we will. Let’s hope they can speak our language.”

 

“If they can’t, we’ll learn their language. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could speak a different language than everyone else?”

 

Halua shakes her head but keeps the smile. “We wouldn’t know what they were speaking, Emil.”

 

“Oh, right.” The boy lets out a laugh, rubbing his hand behind his neck. “But we should meet them! Maybe they’re nice.”

 

“Alright,” Halua said, placing her finger on the next word to read. “Let’s finish reading, then we can go use the telescope.”

 

Once again, the two children were journeying with the prince. The prince met adults who Halua thought were people deserving of spite, but Emil would look at her and ask why they were acting like that. 

 

Sometimes Halua didn’t know what to say to her dear, dear brother.

 

She didn’t technically lie to Emil saying that the adults were written like that. The girl wished he wouldn’t understand the meaning of the adults… She hoped that they would never be like them at all.

 

The two sprinted through the part where the prince was meeting adults from the differing worlds, then the prince went to Earth, where the Sahara was. It was there he met-

 

Then there was silence.

 

Halua barely noticed a slight pressure on her shoulder. She turned her head to see the culprit was Emil’s head, leaning against her. He took rhythmic breaths as his snuggled beside her.

 

She tugged the side of the book with Emil’s sleepy grip and proceeded to close it. The old book was placed near the side of the armrest.

 

The older sister ultimately decided that leaving her brother would wake him. He was a light-sleeper to begin with anyways. She was his comfort, just as he was hers. A feeling of joy welled up in her. 

 

This was her brother. Her innocent and sweet little sibling.

 

She would protect him however she could.

 

The next thing she knew was that she tilted her head to put her head above his, moving her arm to wrap him as if it was a barrier warding out demons and the animosities that surfaced from this world.

 

Then her eyes fluttered shut.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really confident in this chapter, but perhaps I'll rewrite it. However, I do like the prompt.

The winter was freezing. The siblings were only bundled up in mostly thick coats since most likely no snow wandered to this region. Their faces would be covered in fog whenever they exhaled. 

 

People parted when they passed, seeing that they would not be easily broken apart. They were two children wading through a sea of humans and shops.

 

The children’s hands were intertwined, both firmly holding onto each other. They walked in tandem, searching around the shopping district. Then the younger one stopped, looking behind himself as if there was something invisible that the other couldn’t see.

 

The sister tugged his hand. “Emil, we have to hurry.” Her voice muffled by her free hand in the process of warming it. “Mom and Dad need the seeds today before the shop closes.”

 

Emil pursed his lips, keeping his eyes at the distance. “But Halua! Don’t you hear it?”

 

“What do you mean?” Halua said.

 

The area they were in was filled with humans chattering, the occasional flicker of the lights, the steps of people, and nothing seemed to be out-of-the-norm for the girl.

The boy hummed in thought. “Like… like an animal.”

 

“Not now.” She said, urging her brother forward. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

 

“But I should check, shouldn’t I?” Emil’s hand slipped from her grasp as he yanked away. “If something’s bothering you, then solve it, I think that’s what Dad said.” His voice dropped to a whisper.

 

“Emil, we don’t-”

 

“That’s fine! I-I’ll look for it myself and- and we can meet in the front of the library, right? You can get the seeds.” Emil attempted to hold his voice firm before dashing off.

 

Halua stretched her hand toward Emil and she could almost grab his hand, but he was engulfed in the sea of people to the point that Halua decided it would be better to chase him. 

 

Adults around her would part as she broke through their barriers. She could barely identify their incoherent grumbles, but to her, that wasn’t paramount. There was a glimmer of his golden hair in her view-

 

and then a few more steps, her baby brother had been completely drowned within the crowd.

 

She searched the area, up and down, left and right. Running and running. Someone yelled at her. No apologies. No concern. There was no trace of her brother. How did he get away so fast?

 

Finally, she slowed down to a stop. “Emil!” she shouted. Her eyes darting around and the fog formed rapidly from her mouth. “Emil?” The volume dropped and she dragged herself forward.

 

A person came up to her. The words that came out of his mouth went out of her ears. Her eyes stared at her shoes. She said that she was fine and pushed herself away from him, but he stopped her by setting his hand on her shoulder. She jerked away and narrowed her eyes against the stranger’s eyes. 

 

She turned away and forced herself to sprint. Where was her brother? What if he got hurt? Was he alright? What if the thing he heard was a trap?

 

The world suddenly felt desolate.

 

“Sister?”

Her eyes widened, and her head swiveled to pause when she saw someone familiar.

 

“Emil! Don’t do that!” Halua runs up to him, her hands curled into tiny fists.

 

Emil jumped back, “I’m sor-”

 

Her gaze traveled to his arms. “What’s  _ that _ ?”

 

“Huh?” He looked at his arms wrapped around something furry. “Oh! Remember when I said that I heard an animal, it was a tiny kitten!” The kitten curled within his arms, making no sound. “He was in a box…”

 

Behind her brother was a small alleyway that was mostly dark, but the most prominent part was the shoddy cardboard box jutting out with messy scrawl in black marker saying ‘adoption’. 

 

“You would  _ think _ that someone would at least put the shelter than in the cold wind,” Emil muttered, hugging the kitten near his chest as if it was his lifeline.

 

Halua opened her mouth, then closed it. It was futile to think that her brother was in such a danger. However, an overwhelming sense of relief surrounded her, it was gladdening to see him okay.

 

“Did you get the seeds?”

 

Halua’s gaze fluttered to the side. “Not yet, but we can still run over there.” She found it almost surprising that Emil did not consider that she was chasing him for the whole time. He wasn’t even teasing her.

 

“Oh um, alright!” He nodded.

 

Then the two went off, one holding the cat and the other keeping an eye on them both. Both were careful, but mostly for the different reasons.

 

They knew the route to the shop since their father has taken them to the same shop multiple times.

 

When they entered the door, it went off with a little ring of the bell. A jolly woman’s voice resounded a friendly greeting from behind the counter. The woman knew the two children because of their father.

 

The shop was not something impressive. It was small and kind of cramped, but it had a homely feel that Halua can’t describe. Emil had always looked around the shop in wonder and made the choice to explore this time with the kitten in tow. The kitten made no effort to escape his arms and the woman could only smile at the sight.

 

The woman called Halua to the counter and bagged her the seeds needed for the greenhouse. Halua and Emil thanked the woman before leaving.

 

“Hey, sister...?” His gaze lowered to see the kitten “Do you think Mom and Dad will let us keep him?” Emil said on their way home.

 

“We’ll ask them. I think we can…” Halua did not want to confide in him the fact that they never had an animal in the house, much less permanently.

 

“Ooohh okay!” His smile was painted on his face. “We should name him though!”

 

“How do you know it’s a boy?”

 

“Well… I think he is… but! Isn’t the name Yuki nice?”

 

“I don’t see why not, but why Yuki?”

“I was reading something about snow in a book, and Yuki means ‘snow’ in one language. The kitten’s fur is white like snow so I thought it would be nice.”

 

“Yeah… It’s a really nice name, Emil.”

 

And so the two continued to chatter on and on about their lives with their new member of the household. While not quite holding hands, the children huddled close together as if there was an invisible bond holding them together.

 

They were normal children who finally have a cat.

 

The kitten purred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always thought Halua would be rather headstrong, intelligent, and wary even as a child. Perhaps a bit overprotective of her brother. As for Emil, he is still technically childish. I felt like he forced himself to grow up because of Project Snow White and all. And while he has the mind of a child in the later events of NieR, he doesn't quite have the innocence that he had as a child after experiencing so much.

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly just wanted to write something really sweet for these two. You don't get much about their past and how they lived before Project Snow White. This might as well be heavily based on headcanons.


End file.
